The Abia State Government has constituted a special committee to recover all encumbered public schools allegedly taken over by officials of the immediate past administration in the state.

The committee, which is headed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Caleb Ajagba, includes the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eme Uche, as Secretary, along with the Commissioners for Justice, Lands/Housing, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, General Managers of the Umuahia Capital Development Authority and the Greater Aba Development Authority, as well as the Chief Security Officer to the Governor.

The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu, made this known at the Government House Umuahia on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of this week’s state executive council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.

He said that the committee is tasked with identifying about 180 public schools whose land has been taken over by officials and cronies of the immediate past administration.

According to him, the government will not tolerate the greed and mindless impunity of a privileged few who have surreptitiously taken over lands belonging to government schools.

He also condemned the misuse of schools handed back to different organizations, stressing that such schools must be used exclusively for educational purposes.

Kanu said that a full diagnostic assessment of the educational sector of the state has been conducted, adding that about 12,000 teachers in public schools will undergo a capacity-building program during the summer to prepare them for the newly restructured schools that the government will have in place by September.